


At the edge of the water

by 3x3



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, but it's a tradition of mine to write a confusing birthday fic for these two boys so here it is, even i don't completely understand this one, happy birthday boys, i mean;;;
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-09
Updated: 2018-11-09
Packaged: 2019-08-21 03:51:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16569092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3x3/pseuds/3x3
Summary: It's November tenth again.





	At the edge of the water

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I literally finished this yesterday.  
> I wanted to catch their birthday @ 12 in my timezone.  
> I have thoughts about this one, little additions and background information but I decided not to include them in the end.  
> I basically wrote this fic purely for myself so  
> it's confusing  
> i know

The water doesn’t look _that_ deep, right?

 

At least that’s what Tadashi is trying to convince himself.

 

It’s November tenth again.

* * *

 

“Birthdays? Are you the type that gets jumpy around birthdays?”

“Wha- Jumpy?” he flushes red, more out of embarrassment out if everything else. Tadashi ducks his face to avoid eye contact. “Is that a bad thing…?”

The pause drags on for only one more second. He knows it because Tadashi’s counting under his breath. _Tik. Tok._

Then Kenji- _san_ laughs. “I guess not.” His voice has a bit of a tilt. Tadashi thinks he might be amused. “It’s just that it’s been a bit of a while since I had anything to look forward to on my birthday.”

A warm hand asserts itself in Tadashi’s tangled mop of hair sitting on his scalp and gives it a rough tussle. “You’re a good one, kid. Don’t let my bullshit bring your spirits down.”

 

He’s always hated when Kenji- _san_ gets like this. Dim and quiet. Laughs too airy. He’s always hated when Kenji _-san_ would treat him like a little kid who couldn’t begin to understand anything.

Because Kenji- _san_ is literally only one year older. No more, no less. One year can’t make that much of a difference.

Or maybe it could.

Because it is exactly one year after the Thing, and here Tadashi is.

* * *

 

What was that thing he used to say?

* * *

 

Tadashi and Kenji- _san_ first met under rather strange circumstances.

Strange, as in _I saw you fall into the water and thought you were trying to commit suicide so I dived down to fish you up and gave you a lecture about treasuring life when it turned out you were just trying to retrieve a packet you accidentally dropped._

Strange.

But at least no one died from it, so Tadashi would take strange any day.

Kenji- _san_ laughed back then, but not in a mean-spirited way. “You’re a funny one.” his voice trembled, a byproduct of jumping into a river in such chilly weather. Droplets of water splatter down on the pavement from his shivering figure. “Thank you for looking out after me.” He smiled, lips so pale it’s a little concerning.

“Uh…” Tadashi only knew that he was bright red at that point from the sheer embarrassment. “I only did what anyone would’ve done in my place, so…” His eyes darted around frantically.

“Somehow I doubt that.” Kenji- _san_ snorted. Then sneezed, loudly. “Sorry,” he said, rubbing his nose. “I better get going if I don’t want to die of hypothermia.”

“Wait!” Tadashi rummaged around his bag, pulling out the towel that was nicely folded at the bottom. “Take this. It’s too cold out here to be dripping water.”

Kenji- _san_ ’s eyebrows shot up. “Well aren’t you a magician.” he commented. “Where’d that even come from?”

Tadashi scratched his cheeks. “Yeah… My mom makes me pack a spare towel in case of emergencies.”

“Of falling into a river?” Kenji- _san_ grinned. “Joking. That was a joke.”

Tadashi ignored that, pushing the towel closer. “You can have this one.”

“Whoa.” Kenji- _san_ held up his hands. “I don’t want to steal a kind stranger’s towel. You just saved my life, I don’t want to be ungrateful.”

“You weren’t even dying.”

“I could’ve been.” he countered, crossing his arms. Stubborn.

Well, Tadashi was stubborn too. He didn’t know what spirit possessed him to suddenly boost his boldness, but he threw the towel over Kenji- _san_ ’s eyes and went running away in a different direction.

“See you around! Don’t jump into any more rivers!”

* * *

 

And that would’ve been the end of it, had Fate not been the meddling sneaky force of unreasonable  it is. (And crashed Kenji- _san_ right into Tadashi’s box of cake.)

( _Gosh I’m so very sorry._ He’d rambled upon impact. _Let me make it-_ )

(A pause.)

( _Towel-_ kun?)

Okay, that’s a little unfair. Looking back, though Kenji- _san_ _did_ cause Tadashi lots of distress and probably took five years off his life from all the distressing, there’d been some fun times as well.

Like the time they accidentally crashed an abandoned half-flaming scooter into the lake.

Accidentally.

Fun times, fun times.

At least life was never boring, never repetitive, and that’s more than most people could ask for.

Kenji- _san_ was truly extraordinary.

* * *

_Such a coincidence, Towel-_ kun _, that we meet again! What are you doing here?_

 

_Can you stop calling me that?_

 

_What? You don’t like towels?_

 

_It’s just… not my name._

 

 _Okay then, what_ is _your name?_

 

_……_

 

_Yamaguchi… Tadashi_

 

 _Alright. Nice to meet you, Yamaguchi-_ kun. _I’m Futakuchi Kenji. Don’t have your towel with me at the moment, sorry. And also sorry for ruining your cake._

 

_Uh. It’s... fine?_

 

 _Let me pay for your cake, at least. Say, you live nearby, Yama-_ kun _?_

* * *

 

Time stretched out, and when Tadashi looked back, it’s the small snippets that he really remembered.

 

_What’s your LINE id? I still gotta return your towel. Yes I did wash it. What kind of person did you think I was?_

 

_Hmm, so your birthday is on the tenth too? Interesting._

 

_Yama-kun I have an extra entrance ticket to an all-you-can-eat-buffet. So Sunday, 11 a.m. Be there._

  


_Hey Yama-kun, I just realized. You’re a poor college kid. I’m a poor college kid. Wanna pit together some money to get a better place?_

 

_Oh look Tadashi I found your towel._

* * *

The water bubbles quietly beneath his feet. Tadashi takes a peer over the edge.

His stupid heart is thundering crazily in his chest, and no matter what he does, he can’t get it to calm down.

Tadashi wonders why that is.

_It’s not like he’s really going to jump._

_He just wants to take a little dip._

_A little-_

* * *

For a self-claimed realist, Kenji- _san_ spends an awful lot of time dreaming.

 

_Why do we have to eat. Imagine never starving ever. Wouldn’t that be something?_

 

_It is criminal that there are no free marshmallows on the street every 15 meters._

 

_I hope the sky just comes crashing down and end me so I can stop worrying about school._

* * *

 

-Tadashi’s phone buzzes, shattering the moment of stillness, and he jumps back, almost falling on his back. The brightness of his screen glares up angrily, and Tadashi narrows his eyes into slits, squinting to make out the words on the notice.

 

_Birthday dinner @ 6:30_

 

He laughs, but it sounds too small and too thin.

It’s one of those yearly notices he put in his schedule, way ahead of time. The reminder isn’t even that necessary, because Tadashi has not forgotten about the dinner date even once. How could he, when Kenji- _san_ specifically always made sure to remind him every day during the week leading up to the tenth, in that sneaky grin on his lips and eyes twinkling mischievously. It’s just there to lighten his day up a little bit more. Now it’s just an empty reservation.

 

Kenji- _san_ used to say to Tadashi, “If you enjoy something, never let anyone ruin it for you. Even if it’s a dumb day dedicated to you to celebrate your mother’s pain.”

 

Tadashi steps away.

It _is_ his birthday, after all.

And it was time to live.

**Author's Note:**

> : )


End file.
